Stock Market & Financial Investment News

Jim Cramer's "Mad Money"Jim Cramer said, Google's (GOOG) stock is on a stealth rally. It's an easier buy, he said. Google is a cheaper, better stock. As for Apple (AAPL), the expectations have gone bonkers, Cramer said. After its stock run-up, it's only natural for the stock to come back a bit. UPON FURTHER REVIEW: Cramer says that Kellogg (K) is stealing market share from General Mills (GIS) and Conagra Foods (CAG).Conagra says commodity costs can be moderated and General Mills says it is losing market share. Cramer sees that as a good sign for Kellogg. Cramer says he sees all the ingredients for an upside surprise when Kellogg reports Nov. 1. The new CEO has been working on pricing and new products to turn the company around, and Cramer says it seems to be working. He says, the time to buy Kellogg has arrived. EXECUTIVE DECISION: Cramer looked at the online real estate market with Zillow (Z) CEO Spencer Rascoff. Cramer wondered whether Zillow's stock is too hot to handle. It's up 98% in a year. The online real estate site's stock momentum is holding up, he said. Zillow is clearly the best story in the group, Cramer said. Cramer also looked at retail through the eyes of the Ascena Retail Group (ASNA), or the artist formerly known as Dress Barn. Ascena has been a huge winner for us, Cramer said, and yet remains incredibly inexpensive versus the rest of the group. CLOSING COMMENTS: Cramer said the weakness in Caterpillar (CAT) is buyable, not sellable. LIGHTNING ROUND: (Bullish) BAC at about $9 its worth a buy; LO is fine but Cramer prefers PM; MCD can still go higher; PQ is highly speculative -- if you think oil is going to go up 20% to 30%, you buy it; if you don't think it is, you sell it. (Bearish) TSLA is too dicey. Reference Link

News For GOOG;AAPL;K;GIS;CAG;ASNA;CAT;BAC;LO;PN;MCD;PQ;TSLA From The Last 14 Days

On The Fly: Top stock stories at middayStocks on Wall Street were slightly higher at midday in the first trading day of a week that will be light on domestic economic data but heavy on earnings reports. Investors will be receiving profit reports from about 25% of the companies on the S&P 500 this week, making this the highest volume earnings week of this season. ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., no major data was released. In Europe, Greece reopened its banks three weeks after closing as the country worked out another bailout agreement. The country announced it has started the process of paying off its creditors, including the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, with a bridge loan it just received. COMPANY NEWS: Lockheed Martin (LMT) agreed to buy the Sikorsky Aircraft business from United Technologies (UTX) for $9B, noting the price is "effectively reduced" to $7.1B after taking into account tax benefits resulting from the transaction. Shares of Lockheed, which also reported better than expected second quarter results and increased its fiscal year guidance, gained nearly 2% after the Sikorsky announcement and saying it will conduct a strategic review of its government IT infrastructure services business and technical services business... Shares of Morgan Stanley (MS) shares were little changed near noon after the bank reported earnings and revenue, excluding certain adjustments, that topped analysts' consensus forecasts... SunEdison (SUNE) announced a deal to acquire Vivint Solar (VSLR) for approximately $2.2B, payable in a combination of cash, shares of SunEdison common stock and SunEdison convertible notes. In connection with the proposed acquisition of Vivint Solar, SunEdison has entered into a definitive purchase agreement with a subsidiary of TerraForm Power (TERP) which, concurrently with the completion of SunEdison's acquisition of Vivint, will acquire Vivint Solar's rooftop solar portfolio, consisting of 523 MW expected to be installed by year-end 2015, for $922M in cash. Shares of Vivint rose 44% following the announcement, while SunEdison's stock gained 4% and TerraForm dropped 3%. Fellow residential solar installer SolarCity (SCTY), which is backed by Tesla's (TSLA) Elon Musk, rose 7% following the deal in the space. MAJOR MOVERS: Among the notable gainers was Exelixis (EXEL), which rallied 43% after the company reported that a study of cabozantinib in metastatic renal cell carcinoma met its primary endpoint of significant improvement in progression-free survival. The shares were indicated to rise even more in early pre-market trading, but lost some of their gains after Bristol-Myers (BMY) announced that its Opdivo study was stopped early after showing superior overall survival in a Phase 3 study of previously treated patients with advanced or metastatic renal cell carcinoma. Bristol-Myers rose a bit less than 1% to trade near $70 per share after its own announcement. Also higher was PayPal (PYPL), which gained more than 5.5% in its first day of trading after being spun out of eBay (EBAY). Meanwhile, eBay shares rose over 2%. Cal-Maine Foods (CALM) dropped 8% after posting lower than expected sales and profits in its fourth quarter and warning that while it should have an adequate supply of its primary feed ingredients, the company expects that prices will be "volatile" in the year ahead. Also lower were shares of several gold miners, including Barrick Gold (ABX) and Newmont Mining (NEM), which each fell about 11%, as gold prices declined about 2% near midday. INDEXES: Near midday, the Dow was up 31.66, or 0.18%, to 18,118.11, the Nasdaq was up 9.81, or 0.19%, to 5,219.96, and the S&P 500 was up 2.82, or 0.13%, to 2,129.46.

Analysts down on Apple Watch sales, AFP reportsCertain analysts have said that Apple's new smartwatch is not a mainstream hit due its disappointingly low sales figures, AFP reports. A study from Slice Intelligence suggests that Apple Watch orders have decreased 90% since the week the device made its debut, the report says. In response, BMO Capital Markets said it told investors that they were "disappointed" and reduced their estimate for Apple Watch sales in the upcoming year, the report adds. Richard Windsor at Edison Investment Research said that even if Slice is off the mark about the plunge in Apple Watch orders, it was evident that the wearable has sold way less than even conservative expectations, AFP says. Reference Link

YouTube advertisers surge 40% over past year, FT reportsThe number of advertisers on Google's YouTube has increased more than 40% in the past year, the Financial Times reports. YouTube said that advertisers from the top 100 brands, ranked by Interbrand, were spending 60% more on advertising than last year, the report says. The website does not disclose revenue figures, but certain data show that it is benefiting from a surge in demand for digital video advertising as millennials spend more time on the site, the report says. Reference Link